Literati 100
by Lost Ranger
Summary: I've taken a 100 list I found and turned it into Literati. I'll attempt to write 100 drabbles. R  R
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

They met in that doorway. His eyes met hers and there was an instant attraction. She felt the mystery around him and a feeling of comfort. The way he moved in without her permission was new and exciting. Dean would never do that. He was not Dean. He was better, she could tell.


	2. Love

**2. Love**

Love that could stand the tests of time. That was idealistic. She had been in love so many times she couldn't remember what really being in love was. But when he came, it all came back to her. She could remember every feeling, every tingle. She could always see him and remember what love was.


	3. Light

**3. Light**

They were always light and bubbly on the good days. Everything was bright and clear. No one could stand in their way. They were on air. Whenever she came into the room it just seemed to light up with her mere presence. Her smile could always light his way in darkness. It was what he depended on in those dark years. He would always need her light.


	4. Dark

**4. Dark**

There were dark times. He had lost his way in his own self denial. She had tried to bring him back, but he was to far gone. Everything seemed to fall into darkness when he left. Even getting involved with someone else couldn't heal that dark spot in her heart. It would always be there. A reminder of what was. She would always remember those times she was in the dark. She would never forget the feeling of returning to the light.


	5. Seeking Solitude

**5. Seeking Solace**

There were times he always wanted to be alone. He would always go to that bridge. The only place in Stars Hollow that would accept him. He was walking to this place now, after having a fight with Luke over leaving again. He walked slowly, deliberately trying to prolong his solitude.

His breath was coming out in puffs of mist, circling around him in the cold night air. His eyes were watering and stinging from frustration. He wanted nothing more to be alone and drown himself in his own self-pity.

But, upon arriving to his special bridge, he found he was not alone. There, shivering in the darkness, was Rory. She was crying and unaware he had joined her.

"Rory?" he asked. She gasped, jumped, then made a furious attempt to wipe away the tears.

"Seeking Solitude?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she sniffled.

"Can I be alone with you?"


	6. Break Away

**6. Break Away**

He was sorry. He truly was. He needed to break away though. Away from the town. Away from Luke. Away from school. He needed to find his dad and also who he was. He couldn't do this in Stars Hollow. He had to do it in California. He knew he couldn't take her with him. She couldn't leave school, her town, her mother. No matter how much he wanted her to, she couldn't and wouldn't.

She'd try to talk him out of it. That he knew. She would get out the pom-poms and give him the "You Could Do Better" speech. He didn't want that. He didn't want to admit that he had failed. Not to her. That would be the worst thing. It would be unbearable to sit through. Unbearable to see the disappointment in her blue eyes. The pain that he had lied to her. The love that he feared and wanted at the same time.

She was everything he wanted and he was scared. He was afraid that he would screw it up somehow. He would mess up and mess them up forever.

He wanted to get away before the pain of heartbreak hit him. He wanted to get away before he had the chance to be a heartbreak, if he wasn't already.

She deserved much better than him. She needed somebody she could trust and depend on and someone that wouldn't fail . Someone that could achieve more than him. He was worthless and unworthy and he knew it. He wanted her, but he knew that good things can't last forever. He was running, leaving a clean break. Clean breaks heal faster.


	7. Heaven

**7. Heaven**

**6 A.M-** Alarm goes off. After a couple of hits he finally found the off button. Grudgingly, he pulled himself out into the cold, Connecticut air. Padding his way across the cold wooden floor, he found his way into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Finding warmth by standing over the register waiting for his shower to heat, he only found that the water never heated at all and he was standing in the middle of an ice storm, naked.

**6:12 A.M-** With the shower over (though he swore he was being pelted with ice cubes). The grueling task of making himself looked presentable laid before him. First, was drying of the hair. Then, came the teeth brushing, hair combing with some mousse for volume.

**6:20 A.M-** A trip to the war zone the Mariano's call a closet is arranged. He has discovered that Rory, in her recent streak of organization has reorganized the closet again. All of his stuff had been organized by color, size, bands, casual, formal, business, vacation, and his tux from their wedding that Emily insisted on buying, though he didn't like it. His shoes were in the same order as well as his pants. He thanked his wife for that, seeing as that made getting dressed somewhat easier.

**6:30 A.M-** He has made his way downstairs now. His movements slow and quiet as not to wake the kids. Traveling through the dark was not an easy task, for his foot found many objects that made him recoil in pain and reminded himself to make sure those got picked up later. He limps into the kitchen, injured from the unfortunate encounter with a action figure at the bottom of the stairs. He finds his beautiful wife sitting at the table, looking as tired as he was and clutching a coffee cup like her life depended on it. He shared a knowing, loving smile and helped himself to a cup.

**6:45 A. M-** It was time to wake the kids up. A very grueling task. They were Mariano's alright. Waking up wasn't a favorite activity for either end of the action. He decided he wake his daughter, Mitchelle, up today, seeing she was more compliant than West was. Creeping into her green with blue polka dots room, he gently rested his hand on his four year old's back. "Hey, kid, time to wake up," he whispered playfully.

"No, sleep," she muttered in her high, adorable voice that would make the coldest heart melt.

"Sorry, kiddo, Mommy says," Jess said pulling the covers off her and picking her up.

"To early," Mitchelle murmured into his shoulder.

"Right there with you," he said. "But, you have to go to pre-school today."

This seemed to console her.

**7:20 A.M**- With Mitchelle and West successfully up and dressed the whole family was now in the car headed for Luke's, the usual breakfast stop. West proved to be fussy today, not liking his car seat very well and Mitchelle decided she was going to debate that she was to big to be in a car seat with Rory, who was winning.

**7:30 A. M- **He made it through the long drive, looking at Luke's gratefully, knowing Lorelai would entertain the kids so he could eat breakfast. But, being his kids, they weren't going to give him a break.

"Luke, I want eggs," Mitchelle declared, but just as soon as the eggs arrived, it was decided she wanted toast instead, and toast wasn't right either.

"How about some cereal?" Luke proposed.

"Sounds good," Mitchelle replied, trying to sound like her mother. Sighing, Luke gave Jess the eggs and toast to feed to West.

"Daddy, why does West eat anything you give him?"

"Because he's a boy and boys will eat anything really."  
"Mommy eats just about anything and she's not a boy. So does Grandmommy."

"They're a special case."  
"Why?"

"Because they have stomachs of steel."

"Why?"

"Because they're programmed that way."

"Why?"

"Um…"

"Got you."

"What?"  
"I win. You didn't think of anything."

He soon realized this was like one of his and Rory's verbal sparring matches. She was getting smarter everyday.

"Cereal for the very picky eater," Luke grumbled.

"What's wrong, Luke?" Rory asked.

"Didn't get laid?" Jess added, taking pleasure in Luke's red face and quick no.

"Nothing's wrong except for Taylor," Luke replied walking off.

"And the saga continues," Jess said. "Tune in next week for another fine episode of Luke vs. Taylor."

**9:00 A. M-** Rory was gone. Mitchelle was dropped off. It was just he and West now. Easy, right? Wrong. West was crying as hard as he possibly could. Jess could already tell he was turning out to be a Momma's boy. Jess had left him in the playpen to make a phone call, but dear West wasn't having that.

_Jess, I need it in tomorrow._

"I'll get it to you today, I promise."

_Just Hurry!_

"Well, Westy, what do you say to a nice car ride to dear ole' Dad's work?" Jess asked the one-year-old. "Then we'll drop Mommy off some lunch."

The word mommy seemed to satisfy him. They slowly made their way to the car, taking careful steps on the icy sidewalk

There was one thing Jess loved about cars. They always eased his son to sleep. No matter what. Or at least, that's what he thought. West cried the whole hour drive to subway station. Then he could barely stopped crying on the subway ride to Philadelphia. (Subways displeased West when his mother wasn't there). Then the taxi ride wasn't any better.

**10:45- **"Hey, how's little Westy?" his old roommate's girlfriend cooed. Thankfully the feminine presence was enough to calm West down so Jess could finally get some work done. But, deciding a design for the cover of Jess's newest novel was not an easy task and he already had a headache.

"None of these work," Jess finally announced after fifteen minutes of staring at the four choices. Choice one: A plain purple cover with a book laying open at the bottom. That one was one of the better options. Choice two: A pair of models obviously supposed to represent his characters. That one was rejected immediately. Choice Three: Another set of models. Those were two Plastic Surgery and Crash Diet to fit his main characters. Choice Four: A red cover with the title looking like it had been sprayed on with spray paint.

"How about that picture of you an Rory?" James asked, equally frustrated. "The one of you two dancing at your uncle's Wedding. Or a collaboration of pictures of you guys. Jess! You're a genius man!"

Though Jess didn't even answer his question, James had taken it as a yes and rushed off to work on it. Where he was going to get the pictures, Jess didn't know.

"Well…that was…"

"Just James," Claire, the girlfriend, answered ."I think you can go now."

**11:50 A.M-** "How does McDonalds sound to you?" Jess asked as they walked down the street towards Rory's magazine. West gurgled something from his car seat/carrier, but it sounded optimistic. Jess, satisfied there was no crying, took a deep breath and journeyed into the crowded McDonalds.

After half an hour of waiting in line, Jess was starting to get grouchy again. It didn't help that the new guy was being trained right now. Then, his order got all messed up, so there was another half hour and they were finally out the door headed to Rory.

**2:30 P.M- **Picking Mitchelle up was no easy job. First you had to meet all of her friends again, watch their new trick, look at every drawing, meet the new teacher, see the new slide, meet their class pet, gather her things, debate with her on the pros and cons of a wearing a coat, wrestle her into the coat, say goodbye to everyone, and then out the door. Then, there was the impossibly complicated car seat.

**6:00 P.M-** The kids were fed, one asleep the other watching TV in their rooms, and the house was quiet. Jess decided a nap would be nice. He made his way quietly down the hall, trying not to be noticed. If she didn't see him, she wouldn't feel the incredible urge to talk his ear off until Rory got home at 7 sharp.

Nearly bolting past Mitchelle's door and into the safety of his bedroom.

The king size bed standing in front of him was a illusion, a mirage, a gift from heaven itself. He fell onto it, falling asleep ten seconds after landing.

**6:20 P.M: **His eyes shot open. It wasn't possible. This was a nightmare. This couldn't be. He pulled himself out of his warm bed and tiptoed to the edge of the stairs, listening to the voices coming below.

"What do you say we move that couch over there and this one over here?"

"That would be perfect, Grandma!" his daughter's squeal was inevitable as she started babbling about long stemmed roses and a velvet covering for his favorite armchair.

"I was thinking that the armchair will have to go." It was unmistakable. Emily Gilmore was in his house, about to throw out his favorite armchair. The next words he heard about ripped his heart from his chest and tore it to shreds.

"I think you're right, Grandma." his little angel had just killed him. Just taken his heart out, threw it on the ground, and did the Mexican Hat Dance on it.

He had to put a stop to this before they decided to take out his soul by taking out his books too. He stormed down the stairs to see a couple of burly men about ready to lift up his chair.

"Stop right there!" Jess shouted, pointing at them. "That chair isn't leaving this house!"

"Oh, Jess, good, you're up," Emily said, letting Mitchelle slide down off her hip.

"Daddy! Grandma said I could be an interior designer if I wanted to," Mitchelle said.

"She has a natural talent, actually," Emily said. "For god's sake fix your hair, you look like a hoodlum."

"What are you doing here?" Jess asked, angrily. "Moving my furniture out. I obviously wasn't informed we were moving!"

Emily gave him a sigh and an eye roll as if her actions were obvious. "I told you guys last Friday that my mother was coming."

"Well, that clears it all up," Jess said sarcastically. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, she can't see your house looking like this!" Emily said. "Nothing matches! You matching furniture."

"She can just get over it. The chair stays."

**9:48:** "She can't keep doing this, Rory!" Jess said, as he folded down his side of the bed.

"It's just for one night," Rory compromised calmly, climbing in.

"But still, she can't come in and change around _my_ house," Jess said, defensively.

"My grandma has always been like that and will always be like that," Rory said stroking his cheek and ruffling his hair back. "It's better to go along with her than fight her."

"But she can't come in and change our house around again, got it," he said.

"Yes, sir," she said. "You know, the kids are asleep."

He smiled at her, before planting a kiss on her lips. Even though his day had pretty much sucked, he wouldn't have it any other way. To him, all of this, was heaven.


	8. Innocence

**8. Innocence**

She radiated innocence. From the first time he saw her, he knew. He knew that she was this hick town's innocent angel that they wanted to protect from someone like him.

That boyfriend of hers. He was innocent too. They were the ultimate couple of the 50s. They went together like peas and carrots. He could even picture their future together if he tried hard enough. He would come home from a nice job to her and their two kids, a boy and a girl, of course. Very Ward and June if you asked him.

He was different. He was anything but innocence. Everyone knew that. She had refused to believe it. She saw good in everyone. Even him.

That innocence had been lost when he had seen her after those years. Lost somewhere behind the mask she put up for everyone. Hiding behind her false happiness.

It killed him to see her that way. The guilt seemed to radiate from her as she stood there in her grandmother's driveway. Then, a flash of that innocence he'd always known had re-emerged when she saw him. It was there until _he _pulled up. He seemed to take her innocence away and she had put that mask back on when he came around.

She would always be that innocent girl to him. She always was around him. Just lost and confused, trying to make things right. She had come to him at Truncheon, there he saw it again. That innocence that radiated her like white light. She thought she had lost it, but she never had. Even when she tried to naïvely tell herself that she loved that other man. The one that always took away that innocence.

With time, he knew, that innocent, small town girl, would find her way back to him. He would wait forever for his innocent angel that always brought light to his dark side.


	9. Drive

**9. Drive**

She had told him to keep driving. That was a sign. That was one of the first signs. They were meant to be. He was drawn to her and she had told him to keep driving. She had a boyfriend, and in that moment, he knew she didn't care. He knew that she had chosen him. Dean didn't matter now.

It was just the two of them. The world was outside that car, leaving the two of them inside a protective bubble that allowed them to be themselves.

He questioned her about her life and her boyfriend; he in return got honest answers and inquiries of her own. He was evasive. It came natural to him, but she didn't seem to mind. She let him be himself.

She was the only person in this town he could connect to. The only one that understood him. He liked that. She was the only one that he could respect.

He kept driving. Just to keep the measly minutes of happiness going. He would've kept driving forever, if that little furry thing hadn't gotten in the way.

They crashed and reality came back.

Now, thinking back on it, he thought of that happiness he had. He smiled at the memories of her telling him to keep driving.


	10. Breathe Again

**10. Breathe Again**

Learning to breath, is never easy. Especially when she had the world crashing down around her. Everything was falling apart and she couldn't seem to get things back together. With her dropping out of Yale, living with her grandparents, fighting with her mom, the D.A.R, Logan, and the disapproval of the Huntzburgers…it was all overwhelming. It always felt like she was being smothered by all the things in her life.

Then came the confusion following his proposal. This felt like someone had wrapped cellophane around her head. She was choking and couldn't rip it off.

One day, she dropped in on Truncheon. She didn't know why she did, but she did. She walked right in, after she had carefully examined the items in the window display. There she saw him and that crooked smile sliding up his face. She saw light come into his eyes.

She could breath again.


	11. Memory

**11. Memory**

_Every Mile A Memory_

_Every Song Another Scene_

_From Some Old Movie_

_Going back in time to You and Me_

_Every Day a Page Turned Down_

_Every Night a Lonesome Sound_

_Like a Freight Train Blowin' Through My Dreams_

_Every Mile A Memory_

The first thing she had told herself was that she was crazy. Absolutely insane. She had decided to be impulsive and take a car trip after she graduated. Didn't know where she was going, or when she would be back. She just said she would call when she got to her first stop.

Her heart kept telling her she needed to get away. So, she unconsciously drove out of town, out of state. She may have kept driving until she hit ocean.

"This is a time to reflect," she told herself. "A very spiritual experience that will leave you a better person in the end."

She flipped on the radio, to the only station that would work. A country station.

"Well, that's just great," she muttered. "Nothing like the Grand Ole' Opry to completely drive me insane."

After a while of listening to nothing but broken hearted love songs that sometimes sounded like her own, she had finally told herself her life story up to the point of Jess. Then a song came on that wasn't so bad.

_Country Roads- _"Sounds like our town. Every little back wood road leads right back into town."

_Ole Theatre Marquee Sign- "_Old Movies. That's what he liked best. Where the focus was more on the writing and the great work of the actors than on how great the special effects are."

_Parking Lots, Billboards Flyin' by- _"We made out in a bookstore parking lot before, after a long argument about how billboards were diminishing society."

_Spanish Monks-_ "He always said life as a Spanish Monk would be a great alternative for Taylor."

_Little Hick Town Square-_ "That's where most of our moments took place. The town square."

_Wild Roses on the River Bank-_ "First kiss. That little river bank. I don't think their were roses there, but it's still the same."

_It's Almost Like Your There- _"Somehow, you've always been there. All those places. The essence of you. Places they would never look."

_Every Mile A Memory_

_Every Song Another Scene_

_From Some Old Movie_

_Going back in time to You and Me_

_Every Day a Page Turned Down_

_Every Night a Lonesome Sound_

_Like a Freight Train Blowin' Through My Dreams_

_Every Mile A Memory_

This was their song, so far. There'd been ones that'd been for her and Dean. One or two that was all Logan. This one. This song was Jess. This was her road trip. This song wrapped itself around her and gave her comfort as they passed through unknown territory and into the memories that the sights brought.

_Red Sun Down, Out Across the Western Sky- _"California! Why'd he have to go to California? God! The least he could've done was say that he was going. If he told me that he was coming back I would've waited. But you know what, he didn't! Nothing! And when he did call he didn't even say anything!"

_Takes Me Back To the Fire in Your Eyes-_ "That fire…guess that's what attracted me to you. So dangerous and…I don't know…alive. Dean never had that. Logan…well, let's not go there."

_I've Seen 'Em With You, Baby, Oh They Never Do It Right- _"That one girl in Stars Hollow that got under my skin. I don't see why in the hell you would even consider her. She was so wrong for you! I mean _bloaty_! Who says that?"

The chorus rolled back around. It was true. These miles were rolling by and all she could do was think of him. Didn't even matter where she was going, just thinking of him.

_Funny No Matter Where I Run, Round Every Bend I Only See Just How Far I Haven't Come- _"I've gone completely no where. I'm in the middle of no where!"

Tri-Chorus came in as she pulled into a independent bookstore and walked in to ask directions. It hit her like a ton of bricks when she saw the sign before her and the line forming from one end to the other.

_**The Subsect**_

**Signing Today by Author Jess Mariano**

All those miles and she never would have imagined she'd been led strait to him.

* * *

_Every Mile a Memory (c) Dierks Bentley and all assosiated._


	12. Insanity

**12. Insanity**

_I'm insane!_ He thought as he made his way up the stairs, protesting security following him. He had run from Truncheon, to the subway, jumped over the rail, waited impatiently and annoyed while the subway seemed to amble along, bolted from the subway, ran six blocks, and now down a long hallway full of people he nearly knocked over as he made for the clear door with her name on it.

"Jess?" she was surprised, a little angry. She hated him. He knew it. _I'm so stupid for doing this. _He moved around the desk and pulled her from her seat pressing his lips firmly against hers. She tried to push him away, succeeding.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, angrily.

"I'm a stupid idiot. I am unworthy of standing in the same room as you," he began. "You totally deserve much better than me. I mean, I haven't got the best track record. But, I've always loved you. I've changed from what I was. I'm better now. I knew from the first moment I met you I knew that I loved you. I just ran most of the way from Truncheon to tell you that I love you and to ask you this insane question. If you say no, I'm out of your life forever. Promise. Will you marry me?"

There was a moment of hesitation before she smiled. "You _are_ insane for running all that way. You're all sweaty too."

"Rory, please," he said, eyes pleading for an answer.

"Yes," she said, tears pooling in her eyes as she kissed him, closing the door with her foot to where no one can see. Then she herself did an insane thing, pulling him down by the shirt behind her desk.


End file.
